I have a Line6 Variax modelling guitar and over time, my favourite model of all of them is the Les Paul, I love its depth of tone, driving lead and subtlety when you back it off. Looking to the future when I think I will be adding a Gibson of some sort to my collection - but I am curious about the SG. How does it compare tonally with a Les Paul ? Family resemblance or is it a different animal entirely? I much prefer its looks to the Les Paul but I wonder how it plays and sounds?

I have an SG Standard and it's great. The neck is pretty beefy compared to most guitars I've tried, but I actually like it. The slightly shorter scale length (24 and 3/4 instead of 25 and 1/2) makes it easier to bend strings, and because of that I put heavier strings on the guitar on it still feels like 9's or 10's on a strat.

Everything I mentioned is pretty much standard for any Gibson though. How the guitar sounds is very subjective, but I never noticed a difference in sound between the SG and the Les Paul. For what it's worth, I tested the guitars playing blues, rock, and acoustic guitar style strumming and fingerpicking. I don't play heavy metal or grunge.

Some very obvious differences are what sold me on the SG though. The SG is a lot lighter than the Les Paul, I think it looks cooler, it has a no-frills finish (I wanted a guitar to eventually gig with, not one to mount on the wall), and the double cut away design and set neck makes it the easiest playing guitar I've come across. It IS top heavy though. I use a leather guitar strap that sticks to my shoulder and it fixed the problem completely. Cheap seat belt style guitar straps go well with this guitar.

Oh, on a side note, I don't think there's a single guitarist alive who could bash a Les Paul. They're good guitars, but I just liked the SG better.

Tonally, the LP has good more mid to it, and bucket loads of sustain, however you've usually got to either tailor the sound of your band to make it cut through (especially if you are running through a Marshall), or just drive it as loud as hell. The SG has a more "nasal" sound, that really cuts through easily, a lot better than the LP, but I don't find the sound as versatile for situations where you are not blasting out rock, (especially when doing quiet, clean solos for instance).

The LP is a LOT heavier in weight, again, something that I like. I find that when I'm standing with it, it balances better. I was forever fighting with the SG when on stage, as the heavy neck would cause the strap to ride up on my shoulder, so that it's natural sitting position was with the headstock pointing almost down.

You can modify both guitars to make them sound better . My friend has an SG with Pearly Gates pick ups in it, and it absolutely rocks through any amp I've heard him play. My own LP has two matched hand wound pickups by Jason Lollar in it, which just brings the sound it produces into a whole new league.

I would suggest that you go to a shop that stocks Gibson. Bring a guitar strap, and try on both. They feel and sound very different, but they are both great instruments, that will produce great sounds.

I have an SG Standard and it's great. The neck is pretty beefy compared to most guitars I've tried, but I actually like it. The slightly shorter scale length (24 and 3/4 instead of 25 and 1/2) makes it easier to bend strings, and because of that I put heavier strings on the guitar on it still feels like 9's or 10's on a strat.

Everything I mentioned is pretty much standard for any Gibson though. How the guitar sounds is very subjective, but I never noticed a difference in sound between the SG and the Les Paul. For what it's worth, I tested the guitars playing blues, rock, and acoustic guitar style strumming and fingerpicking. I don't play heavy metal or grunge.

Some very obvious differences are what sold me on the SG though. The SG is a lot lighter than the Les Paul, I think it looks cooler, it has a no-frills finish (I wanted a guitar to eventually gig with, not one to mount on the wall), and the double cut away design and set neck makes it the easiest playing guitar I've come across. It IS top heavy though. I use a leather guitar strap that sticks to my shoulder and it fixed the problem completely. Cheap seat belt style guitar straps go well with this guitar.

Oh, on a side note, I don't think there's a single guitarist alive who could bash a Les Paul. They're good guitars, but I just liked the SG better.

Who says you can't gig with a Les Paul?

besides, if you need to beat some drunk punk kid off the stage, the chance of a one swing knock out is much better with the Les Paul.

the lp is whale, but once you get use to it its nice to play, I also find it comftourble standing up but very low kinda like slash a down side to it is the single cut makes it very hard to play the high frets and is quite hard to put vibrato when ur bending the 22nd fret

the sg is light, the double cut makes it easy to use the higher frets.

so imo go with the sg you can always change the pickups to make it sound possibly better then the lp (as tank said) much more affourdable (as moorkop mentioned) and alot better playability.

I love my SG, but have always wanted a Les Paul. The Les Paul tends to have a thicker sound, but you have to deal with it being a heavier guitar. Some people I know have eventually given up on the LP because of the weight of it.....so it's really all up to you. I think the LP sounds better, but I would suggest getting a good strap to go along with it to help take some of the stress off of your shoulder.

I have to say guys, every response was right on the money, you are a knowledgeable bunch!

So for the record, my personal impressions were as follows ...

I played an LP standard with the 50's neck - I was surprised at how much wider it was and how far apart the strings felt. For a few minutes I couldn't do any speedpicking at all - it would certainly take a lot of getting used to. By comparison, the SG, even though it had a similarly wide neck felt a lot faster to play - I would definitely have to get used to playing either.

Sound wise, I found the LP to have more depth, and the clean sounds was just beautiful - full of detail and subtlety, smooth and well rounded, with bags of sustain. The SG on clean sounded good but lacked that same depth. Distorted, they sounded about the same to me (I was playing through a Marshal, not sure what model), but for that style of playing the SG felt more comfortable.

Two awesome instruments - Of the two I marginally prefer the LP, the weight wasn't really an issue for me. I would use it for clean acoustic stuff, and blues, but probably not for faster lead stuff. The SG - well, I would put it on my dream guitar list, but probably behind the LP, and also behind something like an Ibanez that plays a little faster.